Norris doubts McLaren has an advantage despite P4 Saudi run

Yesterday at 05:49 PM

Lando Norris doubts whether McLaren had the fastest car in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix despite recovering to fourth place from tenth on the grid.

Oscar Piastri beat Max Verstappen by 2.8s after the Red Bull driver picked up a 5s time penalty for a first lap incident, dropping behind Piastri at the pit stops. Starting on the hard tire, Norris made strong progress of his own to recover from a crash in Q3, crossing the line 9.1s behind Piastri, but believes the Red Bull looked like a quicker car over the race distance.

"The pace was very strong," Norris said. "To finish 9s off the lead was a little bit surprising, so it showed our pace was pretty good. Mainly considering the clean air around here, it’s just a dream.

"As soon as Charles boxed, my pace was very good. Of course, not quite as good as the lead on new tires, but clean air around here is just beautiful. I made the most of that, and Charles just did a very good first stint on the medium, and therefore I didn’t have a big tire delta comparing to him.

"Nothing more I can ask. The Ferrari was quick… Obviously Max was quick as well, and clearly we didn’t have much of an advantage. If anything, you would say Max was probably the quickest out there today, which means we have some work to do."

Although Norris lost the championship lead to Piastri with the result in Jeddah, he says he is not overly concerned due to the race pace he has been able to show so far this season.

"I’m not surprised because of the mistakes I’ve made over the last few Saturdays,” he said. “My Sundays I think I’m pretty happy with; they’ve been pretty strong. All of my Sundays, the pace has been good.

"I have good confidence, the pace is there, and I feel like I’m the best at the minute, but I make my life too tough on Saturday. I’m making myself work for it. It makes my Sundays maybe a little bit more fun at times.

"Missed out on the trophies and the apple juice. I’ve got to work on my Saturdays, and if I can work on my Saturdays, I’m confident I can get back to where I was.”